Spectrobes Hands-on

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We get a fresh look at Buena Vista's upcoming Nintendo DS game.

By Craig Harris

At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, we were exposed to Buena Vista Interactive's original Nintendo DS title Spectrobes. It was here that the game made its public debut, but honestly, E3 isn't a very good venue to show off a deep concept like Spectrobes -- so it's a good thing that Buena Vista made the trek over to our offices this week so we could get a better idea of what to expect in this upcoming action RPG.

Spectrobes is in the works at Japanese development studio Jupiter -- you might recognize the name as the team that worked directly with Square Enix and Buena Vista for the Game Boy Advance "continuation" of Kingdom Hearts. That relationship has apparently strengthened with Buena Vista, as the two companies are working together to establish a brand new RPG universe for Nintendo DS gamers. Spectrobes has a lot in common with Pokemon, but there's a lot here that's unique to Jupiter's design, and it's at least a game that pushes a lot of the unique capabilities of the DS hardware.

Spectrobes are, in this game universe, extinct creatures that once thrived in the world, and, conveniently, these creatures are the natural enemy of the evil Krawl forces that threaten to destroy the galaxy. By finding Spectrobe fossils, you'll be able to revive the creatures and recruit them into your team to help do battle and slaughter these evil, evil Krawl creatures.

First, you'll need to locate them. In the exploration mode, you'll wander through the futuristic environments -- Jupiter is employing an impressive 3D engine that works both screens as a single display, also utilizing a very Animal Crossing: Wild World "rolling log" effect for the world so players can see a good distance in front of them. Using the power of your child-aged Spectrobe commander, you can seek out fossils buried deep within the earth. Ping the Spectrobe's "radar" and you'll head into the next big portion of the game: excavation.

Excavating fossils is a process that uses the Nintendo DS touch screen entirely. Here, you'll tap the screen to dig shatter layers of hardened soil to reach the lodged fossil. Then, it's a matter of using the equipment at your disposal to bring it to the surface. You can use brute force and drill around the fossil, but you run the risk of harming the fossil and rendering it unusable. Sandblasting and acid-washing might be a bit gentler on the fossilized creature, but it takes too long. So it's a balance of tools to get the fossil out of the ground as unharmed as possible.

Once it's in your possession, you can take it back to the lab to revive it. Once revived, you can raise it with food to increase its abilities, as well as bring it along into battle to strengthen its fighting muscle.

Battling is handled in a real-time fashion -- players enter battle by wandering into "whirlwind" icons on the exploration map, and then are whisked away into a single-screen 3D engine where you'll fight along side your Spectrobe creatures. Depending on the pairing you've selected, you'll also be able to pull off specific special attacks with as much glitz and glamour as an impressive Final Fantasy spell.

There are more than fifty unique Spectrobe creatures to uncover, collect, and battle, and they can also be customized with added visual features. The game is scheduled for release next March, and when it's finished it will be Buena Vista's first game to utilize the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. The company has yet to reveal the multiplayer aspects of Spectrobes...we'll know more about those soon.

Have a look at some new screenshots and videos of the game in action by hitting the media link below.